After Eighty-Six Years, Has the International Labour Organization Done Enough to Promote Equality?
“, North Carolina Journal of International Law and Commercial Regulation no31 (Spring 2006) p. 793-821 Abstract: This article begins with a survey of the history, goals and procedures of the International Labour Organization (ILO) with respect to women’s equality in the workplace and then provides three brief case studies of working conditions for women employed in the maquilas and domestic service in Mexico, El Salvador and Guatemala. Although the ILO has various reporting and complaint procedures for enforcement of its various conventions calling for gender equality in the workplace, all of them are voluntary. Despite laws banning workplace discrimination in each of the three countries examined, the author claims there is widespread abuse and discrimination, including employer-mandated pregnancy screening, sexual harassment, hiring discrimination, substandard pay and denial by employers of legally mandated healthcare to female workers.
